Are there Long Term Harmful Effects of SOZO?

I sat down with my good friend Britt who's a licensed mental health professional to talk to her about SOZO, a deliverance ministry that's out of Bethel Church in Redding California.

Helpful and Related Content:

Full SOZO Video:

Short Video on my Research of SOZO:

Bethel and the New Age:

A Discussion on Christian Counseling:

An Honest Critique of Bill Johnson's Book:

Interview with Mike Winger about Scriptures that are Misquoted to Support Word of Faith/NAR teachings:

Issues With Word of Faith:

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[christinegeary]

I was raised in an physically violent and emotionally abusive home. My relationship with both my parents was dysfunctional. Despite this I have felt the presence and seen the reality of the Trinity throughout my years walking with God. No Sozo necessary. Run from this!

[Chelz]

Sozo is an illusion of inner healing. It has ruined me too. It was very difficult for me to unlearn. By God's mercy and grace, He helped me uproot these false teachings and go back to Biblical Christianity, and it has given me great peace. Glory to God!

[HellaJ]

Sozo devastated my spiritual life. I felt ruined. On the other hand, being exposed to such spiritual apostasy opened my eyes to God’s true nature and truth for his creation.

[derickrae]

I was accidentally tricked into a sozo session once. I went to my regular therapist and he'd asked if another lady could join us because she was struggling with her teen daughter. I worked with teens so he thought I could help. I said sure. It started out great. I was explaining the teen brain to her when suddenly she started asking me deep probing questions. I'd never heard of sozo. But I started crying because I was angry. She was telling me I had a problem with God the Father and I don't. I couldn't figure out why I'd started crying. (Looking back I was mad) but she took it as it was working. I never went to that therapist again. I'd been seeing him for years before that. He knew I didn't have a problem with God the Father. I think God was protecting me by moving me away from a therapist with charismatic theology. Thank you for sharing. Now I finally understand what happened in that room.

[rockandsandapologetics]

There is a prayer of salvation, well sort of. It's outlined in Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In other words a prayer of salvation is not so much repeating something someone else asks you to pray, but the true sinner's prayer sounds something like this, "Lord HELP!!!"

[bethcoddington]

Wow. Sozo is SO NO!!! When I'm having any crisis, personal or relational, The Trinity is my the way back, not the cause of.

[Fuzzy_Halo]

Thank you for this video. I have been to two Sozo sessions. One was for "inner healing" and the other was an art one. It's the latter that got me questioning the authenticity of this movement. I was told to paint "what Father God wants me to know about myself" and to "listen to Holy Spirit as He reveals what's wrong in my life". Immediately after the session I started doing research on Sozo and Bethel. I have stopped listening to their music, and have since repented for believing the manipulation that is Sozo. Christians, do not be fooled. You don't need any "inner healing ministry" when we have Jesus.

[ruzinninarciso]

Thank you Melissa for everything you do for God's Kingdom!! May you reach more people across the globe through your videos. Continue exposing the false gospel and the lies that are slowly creeping into the church. God bless you more!

[leoreyes]

As son's and daughter's of our heavenly father, is our duty to study the Bible. Jesus Christ is our refuge when we are feeling lonely or lost. God bless you and keep up the good work.

[reFocusZone]

Good idea Melissa to put up this shorter summary of Bethel’s dangerous SOZO teachings. I didn’t watch the longer one bc of its length but maybe now I will.

[gregdelaney]

Thank you for sharing this with us. I appreciate that you provide the insights and reactions of a licensed mental health person who is a Christian. What I heard in the "story" upon which she commented occurs so often in counseling - the helper interprets the client's issues in the context of her existing theoretical foundation and then tries to apply some kind of prescribed template to the situation. I've taught many courses in foundational counseling theory and I was forever warning students to stay away from "one size fits all" counseling. I've seen too much damage done to clients over a nearly 40 year career. :(

[sanjarojas]

These sozo people need to be delivered from the demons that are working in them and through them.

[danaidahosa]

WOW I’m really thankful for this video! I had no idea bethel and SOZO was so twisted. So sad.

[destinydominguez]

Hold up... forgiving God??? That’s like blasphemy. God can’t do wrong, so what would we be forgiving him for? He needs to be the one forgiving us LOL

[bevp]

I was led into something similar during a time of great upheaval and confusion in my life. While I did find some comfort during that time, I was also diving deeply into sound Bible teaching and ended up renouncing all of that nonsense. Thank you for warning those currently being sucked in.

[IdratherbeinHobbiton]

Okay, so I used to watch Ghost Adventures a lot, and in more than one episode I swear they talk about a demon inhabiting a house and I really think I remember the name of the demon being something similar to sozo if not that actually being it's name!
This is crazy.

[sewingstoryprojects]

Wow! I had no idea that some people think it's their place to "forgive God". The issues mentioned were all human faults, weaknesses and sin....not God the Father. I have never heard of Sozo before, but it is messed up.

[sarahtaylor]

In the book of Hosea it says woe to Bethel in the last days. Is that not clear enough to people?? Bethel: it’s in the name. God warned of Bethel.

[TENEBRAELGAMING]

The moment she said "safe space" I was like, "that's all the explanation I need" lol

[MrHoshitokazoku]

I know that this doesn’t have anything to do with your message today but, I wish you could do a video on how New Age music tries to get us to be tolerant of other religions. I just watch a video called”The Prayer” by the One Voice Children’s Choir. They are Mormon choir and they put out all of these beautiful songs but this time it was trying to unite all religions. You guys should check it out if you haven’t seen it already. And check out all of the comments praise it from all over the world.